U.S. patent application number 09/792655 was filed with the patent office on 2001-11-01 for vehicle glass coating.
This patent application is currently assigned to Sun-Gard Australia Pty Ltd.. Invention is credited to Hall, Richard, Thorburn, Robert Kim.
Application Number | 20010035256 09/792655 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 3819947 |
Filed Date | 2001-11-01 |
United States Patent
Application |
20010035256 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Hall, Richard ; et
al. |
November 1, 2001 |
Vehicle glass coating
Abstract
The present invention provides a method of shaping a sheet of
polymeric film to substantially conform to a curved surface of a
rigid substrate, such as a vehicle windscreen. The method includes
the steps of: cutting the sheet of polymeric film to a size
appropriate to the rigid substrate; positioning the sheet adjacent
the substrate; and applying heat to the sheet of polymeric film
using an infrared or radiative heat source such that said heat is
substantially uniformly distributed over a portion of the sheet
comprising an area of at least about 500 cm.sup.2 at any given time
to shrink and/or stretch the sheet of film thereby causing the
sheet to conform to the curvatures of the substrate. This step of
applying heat is therefore typically performed In the absence of
any forced air-flow. The invention furthermore provides a method of
coating a curved surface of a rigid substrate, such as a vehicle
windscreen with a sheet of polymeric film, including the steps of:
shaping the sheet of polymeric film to substantially conform to the
curved surface of the substrate as described above; and adhesively
bonding the shaped sheet of polymeric film to the curved surface of
the rigid substrate.
Inventors: |
Hall, Richard; (Nunawading
Victoria, AU) ; Thorburn, Robert Kim; (Glen Waverly
Victoria, AU) |
Correspondence
Address: |
OLDHAM & OLDHAM CO
TWIN OAKS ESTATE
1225 W MARKET STREET
AKRON
OH
44313
US
|
Assignee: |
Sun-Gard Australia Pty Ltd.
|
Family ID: |
3819947 |
Appl. No.: |
09/792655 |
Filed: |
February 23, 2001 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
156/212 ;
156/108; 156/229; 156/250; 156/84 |
Current CPC
Class: |
Y10T 156/1028 20150115;
B29L 2031/778 20130101; B29C 63/22 20130101; Y10T 156/1052
20150115; B32B 17/10981 20130101; B29C 61/02 20130101; B29C
2791/001 20130101; B29L 2031/30 20130101; B29C 63/0073 20130101;
B29C 2063/483 20130101; B29C 51/00 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
156/212 ; 156/84;
156/108; 156/229; 156/250 |
International
Class: |
B32B 031/10; B60J
003/00; B29C 031/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Feb 24, 2000 |
AU |
PQ5839 |
Claims
We claim:
1. A method of coating a curved surface of a rigid substrate, such
as a vehicle windscreen, with a sheet of polymeric film, including
the steps of: shaping the sheet of polymeric film to substantially
conform to the curved surface of the substrate, including: (i)
cutting the sheet of polymeric film to a size appropriate to the
rigid substrate; (ii) positioning the sheet adjacent the substrate;
and (iii) applying substantially uniformly distributed heat to at
least a portion of the film with an infrared or radiative heat
source to shrink and/or stretch the sheet of film thereby causing
the sheet to conform to the curvatures of the substrate; and
adhesively bonding the shaped sheet of polymeric film to the curved
surface of the rigid substrate.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of positioning
the sheet adjacent the substrate includes laying the sheet on or
against an outer surface of the substrate.
3. A method as claimed in claim 2, further including the step of:
removing the shaped sheet of polymeric film from said outer surface
of the substrate; and wherein the curved surface to which the
shaped sheet is adhesively bonded is on a side of the substrate
opposite said outer surface on or against which the sheet of
polymeric film was shaped.
4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said portion of the film
to which said substantially uniformly distributed heat is applied
comprises an area of at least about 600 cm.sup.2 at any given
time.
5. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein said portion of the film
comprises an area of about 2,500 cm.sup.2.
6. A method as claimed in claim 1 further including the step of
physically assisting the sheet of polymeric film to conform to the
curvatures of the substrate by smoothing over any non-congruent
heated portions of the polymer film sheet by hand and/or with a
flexible brush or spatula device.
7. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the sheet of polymeric
film is formed from a polyester and has a thickness in the range of
25 to 550 .mu.m.
8. A method of coating a curved surface of a rigid substrate, such
as a vehicle windscreen, with a sheet of polymeric film, including
the steps of: shaping the sheet of polymeric film to substantially
conform to the curved surface of the substrate, including: (i)
cutting the sheet of polymeric film to a size appropriate to the
rigid substrate; (ii) positioning the sheet adjacent the substrate;
and (iii) applying heat to the sheet of polymeric film such that
said heat is substantially uniformly distributed over a portion of
the sheet comprising an area of at least about 500 cm.sup.2 at any
given time to shrink and/or stretch the sheet of film thereby
causing the sheet to conform to the curvatures of the substrate;
and adhesively bonding the shaped sheet of polymeric film to the
curved surface of the rigid substrate.
9. A method as claimed in claim 8 wherein the step of applying heat
is performed in the absence of a forced air-flow.
10. A method as claimed in claim 8 wherein the step of applying
heat is performed using an infrared or radiative heat source.
11. A method as claimed in claim 8 further including the step of
physically assisting the sheet of polymeric film to conform to the
curvatures of the substrate by smoothing over any non-congruent
heated portions of the polymer film sheet with a flexible brush or
spatula device.
12. A method as claimed in claim 8 wherein the sheet of polymeric
film is formed from a polyester and has a thickness In the range of
25 to 550 .mu.m.
13. A method of shaping a sheet of polymeric film to substantially
conform to a curved surface of a rigid substrate, such as a vehicle
windscreen, including the steps of: (i) cutting the sheet of
polymeric film to a size appropriate to the rigid substrate; (ii)
positioning the sheet adjacent the substrate; and (iii) applying
substantially uniformly distributed heat to at least a portion of
the film with an infrared or radiative heat source to shrink and/or
stretch the sheet of film thereby causing the sheet to conform to
the curvatures of the substrate.
14. A method of shaping a sheet of polymeric film to substantially
conform to a curved surface of a rigid substrate, such as a vehicle
windscreen, including the steps of: (i) cutting the sheet of
polymeric film to a size appropriate to the rigid substrate; (ii)
positioning the sheet adjacent the substrate; and (iii) applying
heat to the sheet of polymeric film such that said heat is
substantially uniformly distributed over a portion of the sheet
comprising an area of at least about 500 cm.sup.2 at any given time
to shrink and/or stretch the sheet of film thereby causing the
sheet to conform to the curvatures of the substrate.
15. A method as claimed in claim 8 wherein the step of applying
heat is performed in the absence of any forced air-flow.
16. A method as claimed in claim 8 wherein the step of applying
heat is performed using an infrared or radiative heat source.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to glass coating and, more
particularly, to a method of shaping sheets of polymeric coating
film material suitable for forming a tinted or otherwise protective
surface on a rigid substrate such as vehicle glass.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Colorized or tinted glass is used in a vast variety of
modern applications in order to provide a measure of sun
protection. In many applications, ranging from sunglasses to planar
window glass in commercial environments, the glass contains a
component such as a pigmentation added during manufacture, which
serves to limit the energy transmission properties of the glass, In
other applications, the tinting is provided by way of an additional
layer of tinted material applied to the surface of the glass after
manufacture, to provide a glass/plastic laminate. For example, in
the case of vehicle glass such as a side window, rear window or
sunroof, glass tinting may be provided as an optional feature on a
basic vehicle specification, and the tinting is then applied as a
post-manufacture modification at some stage in the distribution
chain.
[0003] The tinting layer may be provided in one of two ways.
Firstly, a tinted composition such as a metallic material or a
tinted polymer can be applied to the glass surface as a coating by
spraying or similar, and then cured by way of an appropriate
technique. Secondly, a piece of preformed polymeric tinting film
may be cut to size and applied and bonded to the glass surface by
way of an appropriate adhesive, provided for example as a
self-adhesive layer, the adhesive initially covered in a removable
release film. This latter method is preferred in application to
vehicle window glass because it affords a very straightforward and
reliable method of providing an extremely uniform tinted coating to
the glass.
[0004] One problem associated with the application of such film to
the rear or side windows of vehicles is that the glass is often an
integral part of modem vehicle styling and therefore often formed
with curvatures in orthogonal directions, in order to match the
shaping of the surrounding bodyworks of the vehicle without any
discontinuity of form. The planar polymeric film material must
therefore be both cut to size and shaped to match the curved form
of the glass.
[0005] Conventionally, this problem has been addressed by first
cutting a sheet of polymeric film material to size, applying the
cut sheet to the (outer) convex surface of the window glass to
which it temporarily adheres due to hydrostatic, electrostatic or
surface tension effects, and then applying localised convectional
heat by way of a hot air gun to the portions of the sheet that, due
to the curvature of the vehicle glass, are not congruent with the
glass surface. The hot air in the areas to which it is applied
causes the polymeric film to rapidly shrink in those areas and
therefore approximately conform to the local curved surface of the
glass. The hot air gun, also known as a "heat gun", of the variety
commonly used for a paint-stripping or plastic welding, has been
used in this process because it very effectively localises the heat
provided, allowing the operator to direct it only to the areas of
film which need to be shrunk.
[0006] Traditionaily a wet shrinking technique was used for this
process, whereby the window surface was first wetted and the cut
sheet pushed down onto the surface by the operator to adhere by
hydrostatic force over the majority of the sheet surface area,
leaving only a number of localised elongate `tunnel-form`
non-contact edge portions which could then be individually targeted
by the heat gun operator. More recently, a dry shrinking process
has been employed, whereby the glass surface is cleaned/polished
and left dry, and the cut sheet adhered by electrostatic or similar
forces to the surface in only its approximately central portion.
This leaves considerably larger `floating` non-contact areas to be
subsequently heat treated, but the result is a generally improved
shape, when compared with the result of the wet shrinking
technique. However, the process is labour intensive, as the
operator is required to carefully play the heat gun over the larger
non-contact areas to shrink them as evenly as possible.
[0007] This film shaping is carried out with the adhesive surface
and release layer uppermost, and once the polymeric film has been
shaped in the manner described above it is removed from the outer
convex surface of the glass, the removable release coating layer
removed, and the exposed adhesive side of the film applied to the
inner surface of the glass. This is generally done by first wetting
the glass to allow the operator to use a squeegee or similar to
readily urge the film onto the glass surface by "squeegeeing" out
air and water trapped between the two applied surfaces, Modem
polymeric films are, to a greater or lesser extent depending on the
constituents, vapour permeable, and the final step of the process
merely involves allowing the applied coating to dry, any moisture
still present evaporating through the permeable polymeric film over
a period of time depending on the temperature, humidity and the
film construction and thickness.
[0008] The conventional process described above is generally very
effective as it can be applied to all different shapes and areas of
vehicle glass. However, it does tend to be considerably labour
Intensive and operator-dependent, particularly when the preferred
dry shrinking technique is employed, as the heat gun is difficult
to control accurately and the gun operator needs therefore to apply
it extremely carefully to the appropriate areas of polymeric film,
to ensure the areas are sufficiently heated (but not overheated or
melted) to provide the desired shrinkage, without affecting the
surrounding areas. As a rough guideline, the rear window of a
modern SUV or estate car can require around 60 minutes of skilled
operator time to shape and apply a tinted polymeric coating.
[0009] An additional problem can arise with the conventional
technique described above. The heat gun produces a localised flow
of air over an area of a few square centimeters at an extremely
elevated temperature which can rise to around 650.degree. C. This
intense localised heat leads to an effective shrinkage of the
polymeric film, but has been found also to tend to overheat or even
melt polyester film (which has a melting point of around
250.degree. C.) and to lead to a marked localised breakdown in the
polymeric film adhesive, as well as to areas of potential weakness
or localised stresses between unheated and heated portions of the
film. This may not be evident when the film is first applied, but
can lead to subsequent loss of adherence and color change or
fogging of the film after a period of use, especially if used in
warm climatic conditions. Overheated areas of film can fail to
adhere to the glass in localised areas, such as areas where it
passes over irregularities in the surface such as heater demister
bars, and this can make the finishing of the film application very
difficult.
[0010] In view of the above, it would be clearly desirable to
provide an improved method of coating vehicle glass which at least
partially addresses the problems and inconveniences of the prior
art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] According to one aspect, the present invention provides a
method of shaping a sheet of polymeric film to substantially
conform to a curved surface of a rigid substrate, such as a vehicle
windscreen, including the steps of:
[0012] cutting the sheet of polymeric film to a size appropriate to
the rigid substrate;
[0013] positioning the sheet adjacent the substrate; and
[0014] applying substantially uniformly distributed heat to at
least a portion of the film with an infrared or radiative heat
source to shrink and/or stretch the sheet of film thereby causing
the sheet to conform to the curvatures of the substrate.
Preferably, the portion of the film to which said substantially
uniformly distributed heat is applied comprises an area of at least
about 500 cm.sup.2 at any given time.
[0015] According to another aspect, the present invention provides
a method of shaping a sheet of polymeric film to substantially
conform to a curved surface of a rigid substrate, such as a vehicle
windscreen, including the steps of:
[0016] cutting the sheet of polymeric film to a size appropriate to
the rigid substrate;
[0017] positioning the sheet adjacent the substrate; and
[0018] applying heat to the sheet of polymeric film such that said
heat is substantially uniformly distributed over a portion of the
sheet comprising an area of at least about 500 cm.sup.2 at any
given time to shrink and/or stretch the sheet of film thereby
causing the sheet to conform to the curvatures of the
substrate,
[0019] Preferably, the step of applying heat is performed using an
infrared or radiative heat source, and preferably in the absence of
any forced airflow.
[0020] In a preferred form of the invention, the above method
further includes the step of physically assisting the sheet of
polymeric film to conform to the curvatures of the substrate by
smoothing over any non-congruent heated portions of the polymer
film sheet by hand, or alternatively, with a flexible brush or
spatula device. In many cases, however, the film sheet will not
require such assistance.
[0021] In a preferred form of the invention, the step of
positioning the sheet adjacent the substrate Includes laying the
sheet on or against an outer surface of the substrate.
[0022] According to a further aspect, the present invention
provides a method of coating a curved surface of a rigid substrate,
such as a vehicle windscreen, with a sheet of polymeric film,
including the steps of:
[0023] shaping the sheet of polymeric film to substantially conform
to the curved surface of the substrate according to the method
described above, and
[0024] adhesively bonding the shaped sheet of polymeric film to the
curved surface of the rigid substrate.
[0025] The invention thus provides a method of shaping a sheet of
polymeric film material to substantially conform to the curved
surface of a rigid substrate, the method including the steps of
providing a sheet of polymeric film material cut to a size and
shape appropriate to said rigid substrate, and applying heat from
an infrared or radiative heat source to at least a portion of said
sheet to cause differential shrinkage or stretching of the
polymeric film material thereby to conform said sheet to the curved
surface of said rigid substrate whilst minimising the risk of
damage to said polymeric film material.
[0026] The invention, then, affords a process of shaping a sheet of
polymeric film material to substantially conform to the curved
surface of a rigid substrate by applying heat to at least a portion
of said sheet to cause differential stretching of the polymeric
film material, in the absence of a forced air flow, thereby to
conform said sheet to the curved surface of said rigid
substrate.
[0027] In complete contrast to conventional practice, the invention
contemplates applying the required heat to the polymeric film
material from an infrared or radiative heat source. Contrary to the
general understanding in the industry, the inventor of the present
invention has found that such a heat source may be applied to an
area extending beyond the boundaries of the localised film portions
to be shrunk without damaging or otherwise affecting the film. The
infrared or radiative heat source is able to provide less
aggressive heating to the film and to avoid the hotspots associated
with heat guns which is now understood to lead to the undesirable
breakdown of the polymeric film adhesive referred to above.
Furthermore, the heat is able to be delivered or applied much more
uniformly compared with the conventional techniques. The improved
heat distribution results from the application of heat over a
considerably larger area than hitherto possible, and this means
that a larger area of the film can be treated in one go with far
less dependence on operator ability, the film more accurately
self-molding to the surface shaping than hitherto possible. As a
general indication of the improvement provided, it has been
determined in tests that all the windows of a modem SUV or estate
car can be coated with tinted film by a skilled operator in
approximately 60 minutes, providing a significant time saving when
compared with the time required by the same operator using the
conventional approach.
[0028] The polymeric film material is preferably a polyester
material, the particular material selected depending on the
specific application of interest. Typically such films have a
thickness of between about 25 and 100 .mu.m, but they can be as
thick as 350 .mu.m or even 550 .mu.m.
[0029] The polymeric film material is preferably tinted to restrict
transmission therethrough of selected electromagnetic radiation,
the tinting being provided by means of, for example, dyes,
pigments, metals, metal alloys or ceramics, which may be added to
the polymeric film material, or preferably deposited or sandwiched
within said sheet of polymeric film material. For example,
vapour-deposited or sputter-coated aluminium coatings are commonly
used in vehicle tinting products.
[0030] In a preferred form, the polymeric film material is provided
with an adhesive coating, preferably a self-adhesive layer of a
cross-linked acrylic adhesive covered in a removable protective
release film.
[0031] The rigid substrate is preferably a glass window, but may of
course be made from transparent plastics material, or from other
materials, transparent or otherwise.
[0032] Preferably, in the case of a glass or plastic window, the
sheet of polymeric film material is first applied to a convex
surface of said window and shaped thereto, then removed, applied
and bonded to the reverse (concave) surface of the window.
[0033] The infrared or radiative heat source preferably comprises
one or more infrared elements provided in a panel-like array,
providing a roughly uniform temperature over a selected area. A
number of such heat source units may be used simultaneously,
arranged to approximately conform to said curved surface. An
infrared heat source that has been found suitable is a panel unit
conventionally used for curing of oven-baked enamel paint. Such a
unit may be power rated at about 1KW and provide a roughly uniform
heating over an area of about 0.25 m.sup.2 (ie 2,500 cm.sup.2).
[0034] The temperature reached within the polymeric film due to the
application of the infrared or radiative heat source is likely to
be significantly lower than that achieved with a heat gun, but is
of course applied over a considerably larger area. The resulting
shrinkage of the film is therefore more gradual, but because a
larger area of the film can be treated at any given time, the
overall result is a faster process. Because of the significantly
more gentle application of heat according to the present invention,
the film is far less likely to suffer any damage during shaping of
the film sheet. Importantly, the film tends not to become
overheated using the method of the invention because as the film
shrinks and flattens against the vehicle glass, the glass then acts
as a heat sink conducting heat away from the film, thus avoiding
the afore-mentioned problems of film degradation associated with
excessive temperatures.
[0035] Preferably, the method includes the step of first applying
said sheet of polymeric film material to said surface to define at
least one portion in which the film is congruent with said surface
and one or more non-contact portions, which require heat shrinkage
to enable them to conform with said surface, and then applying the
infrared or radiative heat source to an area extending beyond the
boundaries of one or more of said non-contact portions. The heat
source preferably extends over a surface area at least 500
cm.sup.2, providing a substantially uniform heat distribution over
a similar area.
[0036] It is to be noted that, in the case of certain plastic film
compositions, the application of heat may also be used to locally
stretch the polymeric film material, rather than to shrink it, and
this effect may equally be used in a method according to the
invention to conform said sheet to said surface.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0037] Further details and advantages of the present invention will
become more readily apparent from consideration of the following
description of a preferred embodiment with reference to the
accompanying drawing figures, in which:
[0038] FIG. 1 depicts a sheet of tinted polymeric film material for
use in application to vehicle glass; and
[0039] FIG. 2 illustrates the method of the invention as applied to
the rear window of a vehicle.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0040] The polymeric film sheet 10 consists of a generally
rectangular sheet of tinted polyester film material of approximate
thickness between 25 and 50 .mu.m, which carries on one side a
layer of polymeric adhesive 12, covered with a thin removable
release layer 13. A suitable sheet material is available under the
name of SunGard Perform X.TM., Endurance.TM. or Desert
Smoke.TM..
[0041] The rear window 21 of a vehicle 20 has a convex outer
surface and curvatures in orthogonal directions, and this naturally
presents problems of conformity with a planar film. In applying
tinted or otherwise protective coating to such a surface, the
operator first offers up sheet 10 to the cleaned outer surface of
rear window 21, usually with the covered self-adhesive side of the
sheet facing outwardly, and uses a suitable tool to carefully cut
the sheet to an appropriate size for the window. The sheet remains
in position due to electrostatic or other surface effects and the
operator ensures that at least the generally central portion 14
lies congruent with the outer surface of the rear window glass,
then smoothing at least part of the peripheral portion of sheet 10
(usually the lateral areas) into contact with the glass surface.
Because of the compound curvature of the glass, sheet 10 will not
contact the glass in the remaining edge portions, generally
indicated at 15, where the planar film does not conform with the
glass shaping and is thus free to float above the glass
surface.
[0042] Once the operator has arranged sheet 10 such that the
non-contact portions 15 are approximately evenly distributed around
the periphery of window 21, an infrared or radiative heat source
30, either hand-held or on a support stand 31 as shown in FIG. 2,
is brought into a position approximately 45 cm from the film. Heat
source 30 is constituted by one or more infrared heat panels and
its radiation field covers an area of approximately 50 cm.times.50
cm. It is not a problem if the area heated encompasses one or more
of the non-contact portions 15 as well as part of the contact
portion 14, as it is found that the distribution of heat provided
by this method serves to shrink the non-contact portions 15 while
not adversely affecting the film in contact portion 14 in any way.
It is understood that the window glass with which contact portion
14 is in contact serves to dissipate the absorbed radiative heat
away from the film, whilst the non-contact portions 15 cannot
dissipate the radiative heat they absorb in the same way, and are
therefore subject to the heat treatment and the desired localised
shrinkage. The process, then, tends to automatically serve to
localise the heat treatment to the non-contact areas, avoiding to a
large extent the operator dependence of the procedure. As the
non-contact portions 15 begin to shrink, certain areas of those
portions will begin to contact the glass surface, and the heat
treatment will then be automatically localised in the remaining
non-contact areas of those portions 15.
[0043] The application of the infrared or radiative heat to a
relatively large area of film sheet 10 helps avoid the risk of
weakened transition zones between heated and wholly unheated
portions of the material, and significantly speeds up the whole
process. Furthermore, in contrast with the conventional heat gun
technique, there is no forced airflow against the polyester sheet
to undesirably urge the non-contact portions against the surface
before they have been uniformly shrunk.
[0044] The entire rear window of the vehicle may be heat treated in
this way with only a small number of applications of heat source 30
to cover all the appropriate parts of sheet 10. Alternatively, a
single larger heat source, preferably shaped to conform with the
entire rear window form, may be used to heat treat the entire area
of sheet 10 in just a single step.
[0045] Once the heat treatment is complete and sheet 10 is fully
congruent with the window 21, the shaped film sheet 10 is removed
from the outer surface of the glass and the protective release
layer 13 removed to expose the adhesive layer 12, now on the convex
curved surface of sheet 10. The operator applies water (or an
alternative appropriate wetting agent) to the inner surface of the
rear window glass and offers up the adhesive surface of shaped film
sheet 10 to that inner surface. The wetted surface prevents the
adhesive from immediately holding fast and so readily allows
repositioning of sheet 10 once it has been brought into contact
with the glass. When the operator is happy with the positioning of
sheet 10, a squeegee blade is used, preferably in strokes radiating
outwardly from the central area of the sheet, to force air and
water out and so adhere sheet 10 in place against the glass.
Finally, the coated window may be dried to remove any moisture
still present between the surfaces, and this is preferably done by
means of solar radiation, although a large-area infrared heat
source positioned external to the window glass may also optionally
be used. As mentioned earlier, the polymeric film material is
vapour permeable, so the moisture is able to readily evaporate away
through sheet 10, and the external heating allows the glass to
conduct the drying heat to where it is needed.
[0046] The invention has been described with reference to the rear
window of a vehicle, but it is clear that it is equally applicable
to a very wide range of other applications involving the
application of a polymer film to a shaped substrate. In the vehicle
industry alone, a tinted or otherwise protective film may be
applied using the technique of the invention to side windows,
sunroofs, windscreens, sun visors and mirrors. In the construction
field, the method may be used to apply tinting to glass or plastic
domed skylights or other window areas. The skilled reader will
readily appreciate the many other applications that such a process
may have.
[0047] It will be understood that various modifications,
alterations and/or additions may be made to the embodiments
specifically described and illustrated herein without departing
from the spirit and scope of the invention as set out in the
appended claims.
* * * * *